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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25799833">applications of power</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyunrelated/pseuds/totallyunrelated'>totallyunrelated</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender, Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, percy is powerful, percy watches atla</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:14:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,329</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25799833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyunrelated/pseuds/totallyunrelated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, Percy tries out some new tricks with his powers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>266</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>applications of power</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Percy?” called Annabeth, knocking softly before pushing open the door to his room. She’d come over to accompany Percy while he was babysitting his little sister Estelle, as his parents were out on a date, but when she’d entered the apartment everything was dark and no one was in sight. She’d been unable to stop herself from panicking a little, trying to convince herself that everything was fine, the apartment was about the safest place they could be save for Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, Estelle was probably just sleeping and Percy was probably in his room, trying to be quiet so he wouldn’t wake the baby. Still, even as she tried to use logic, a part of her refused to believe that everything was really all right unless she saw it with her own eyes. The last time she’d assumed everything was fine and gone back to breakfast, thinking that Percy had just slept in, he’d been kidnapped by Hera. She’d vowed to herself never to let him out of her sight again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her heartbeat slowed when she saw him hunched over his desk, earphones in and a cartoon playing on the screen. For a moment she stayed in the doorway, letting the sight of him calm her. She didn’t want him to know how close she’d been to breaking down at the sight of a dark, empty apartment. He didn’t need that kind of guilt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she felt like her face would no longer betray her panic, she made her way over to him, wrinkling her nose at the pile of dirty clothes stacked in the corner. She remembered fondly all those times when she would come in for cabin inspection and find things haphazardly stuffed inside closets and dirty laundry kicked beneath beds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Percy,” she said again, resting a hand lightly on his shoulder. He started, Riptide in his hand in a matter of seconds, before he saw her and relaxed. He pressed pause on the screen, taking his earphones out, and rose to engulf her in a hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Annabeth. Sorry I didn’t hear you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright,” she said, returning his hug. “I have the keys anyway, I just let myself in. What are you watching?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Avatar: The Last Airbender,” he explained, picking up his laptop and tugging her over to his bed. It wasn’t quite big enough for the two of them, but they made do; she draped herself half over him, nestling her head on his shoulder as they lay on their stomachs. He offered her an earphone. “Mom put it on for Estelle to watch, and I got hooked,” he said with a slight blush. “It’s actually really good. Do you want to watch with me? We can start from episode one, or we can watch something else if you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually, there’s this movie I really wanted to watch, and I think you’d like it too…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Truth be told, Annabeth had forgotten all about the cartoon Percy had been watching after that. They’d cuddled and watched a movie, which had evolved into a make-out session. Naturally. It never really mattered what they watched when they were together, since it would usually end with neither of them actually paying attention to what was going on; she chose boring movies for that specific purpose. If they actually wanted to </span>
  <em>
    <span>watch </span>
  </em>
  <span>something, they usually did so alone, without distractions. She had learned that lesson after she’d gotten annoyed at Percy one too many times for making her miss sections of her favourite architecture documentary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Today was shaping up to be the worst day ever for Annabeth. First, the waitress at the restaurant they were at had flirted with Percy, </span>
  <em>
    <span>even </span>
  </em>
  <span>after Annabeth had made it very clear that she was his girlfriend, not his sister or his cousin, thank you very much. She had only backed off once Percy had very uncomfortably told her explicitly that Annabeth was his girlfriend. That alone had put Annabeth in a foul mood, but then the library didn’t have the specific book she was looking for, and she’d accidentally knocked a few books off the shelves with her shoulder, earning nasty looks from the occupants. So it was safe to say that she was already having a very bad day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To make matters worse, they’d encountered a group of hellhounds in an alleyway while walking home. Annabeth had wanted to leave the hellhounds alone and go home already, but Percy had insisted that they couldn’t just let them roam free and potentially attack some other unsuspecting demigod, so Annabeth had relented and they had gone to pick a fight with the hellhounds. Also, it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>raining. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Did she mention it was raining? Normally that wasn’t a problem, what with her boyfriend being a son of Poseidon, but he was a little too busy with the aforementioned hellhounds to keep her dry right now. Annabeth growled out a curse in ancient Greek as she slashed at the hellhound, intent on getting this over with as quickly as possible, getting dry, and going back home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, Percy didn’t seem to have gotten the memo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There had been four hellhounds, so they had each taken on two. The hellhounds didn’t stand a chance. Annabeth had finished them off within fifteen minutes - after Tartarus, nothing really fazed her anymore - and there were only piles of gold dust drifting in the wind where the hellhounds had been moments before. Turning, she expected to see the same scene, only to be unpleasantly surprised when she saw her </span>
  <em>
    <span>idiot boyfriend </span>
  </em>
  <span>seemingly toying with the hellhound.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy was perfectly capable of decimating a hellhound in under ten minutes. It should </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>take him this long to defeat </span>
  <em>
    <span>two hellhounds.</span>
  </em>
  <span> There was only one in sight now, and Annabeth really, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>could not wrap her head around what he was doing. She only stared in disbelief as he sent wave after wave of water from a pipe he’d burst onto the monster, soaking it but otherwise doing little else to deter it. In fact, it only seemed to be getting angrier. If this were </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone </span>
  </em>
  <span>else but Percy, Annabeth would be leaping in to help right now. But since this was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Percy, </span>
  </em>
  <span>arguably the most powerful demigod, she stayed out of the way and observed, mystified. If it seemed like he was in danger, of course she’d step in to help, but she knew he was more than capable of holding his own, especially against something like a hellhound, which didn’t pose a challenge for her, let alone him. She tried to figure out what exactly he was trying to accomplish, and came to the conclusion that he was either trying out something new, had lost his mind, or was just toying with the monster because he was bored.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy cursed as his latest wave of water crashed over the monster’s head ineffectually. His brow was furrowed in concentration, and he kept looking at the water as if expecting it to do something different. So he was trying something new, then. Annabeth leaned forward, curiosity piqued. The extent of Percy’s powers never failed to amaze her, and the boy was seemingly always finding new ways to use them. Example: when she’d walked in on him lounging in a chair while he was supposed to be doing the dishes, prepared to yell at him for being lazy, but stopped short when she saw the gigantic water hands in the sink washing the dishes. Part of the reason why Percy was so powerful was that he was an out-of-the-box thinker, refusing to take </span>
  <em>
    <span>no </span>
  </em>
  <span>for an answer. Many other demigods had the mindset that their power was only one thing, and only used it for that; Percy did the exact opposite. He could find ways to use his powers in any environment, which came in very handy when they were fighting somewhere miles away from the nearest big water source. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What is he doing? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Annabeth wondered. He seemed to be doing nothing other than sending waves of water at the hellhound, which mystified her. He was obviously expecting </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>to happen - but what?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the next second, she got her answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hellhound roared and charged. Percy sent up yet another wave of water at the beast. Annabeth tensed as it crashed against the monster, fully expecting it to dissipate like the others, but something unexpected happened. Before her very eyes, the water froze, ice overtaking the hellhound and leaving it imprisoned in a block of ice. She gaped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy whooped. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Yes! </span>
  </em>
  <span>I did it!” He punched the air and did a happy little jig, seemingly forgetting all about the angry monster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kill it, Seaweed Brain!” yelled Annabeth. He glanced her way, grin replaced by a sheepish smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, right - sorry!” He ran up to the monster, placing his hands on the ice and closing his eyes. She watched as a giant spike of ice impaled the hellhound, turning it into gold dust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you </span>
  <em>
    <span>do </span>
  </em>
  <span>that?” she asked in disbelief, running up to the ice prison. When she touched it, it was so cold it stung her hands. She snatched them away immediately, rubbing them together to make them warm again. She had never heard </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything </span>
  </em>
  <span>about a child of Poseidon being able to control </span>
  <em>
    <span>ice.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She had assumed that that was Khione’s domain. What did it mean, that Percy now apparently could? “Where did you even get the idea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy was bouncing in excitement. “I don’t know, I just saw Katara do it, and I thought if </span>
  <em>
    <span>she </span>
  </em>
  <span>can do it, why can’t I? And I didn’t really know if it would work or not, but it did!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>Katara?”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Try as she might, she couldn’t stop the note of jealousy from entering her voice. As far as she knew, neither of them knew anybody named Katara, never mind someone who could apparently turn water into ice. Annabeth hated being the jealous girlfriend, she knew she could trust Percy, but she couldn’t help it. She had spent so much of her life being shoved aside for other people - her stepmother and brothers, for her dad, Kronos, for Luke, the Hunt, for Thalia - that there was always a little voice in her head telling her that soon enough, Percy, too, would leave her. Rationally, she knew that would never happen, but she couldn’t help the feeling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s a waterbender! Which I honestly kind of think is the same thing as being a child of Poseidon, our powers are so similar, but there’s so many interesting things she can do that I really wanna try out -”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A waterbender?” interrupted Annabeth, jealousy replaced by confusion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah! You know, from </span>
  <em>
    <span>Avatar.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Understanding dawned on Annabeth. He was talking about the show. She suddenly felt stupid for being irrationally jealous of someone who wasn’t even real.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That still doesn’t explain how you were suddenly able to control ice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, technically ice is just frozen water,” said Percy. “I learned in chemistry that in order to freeze water into ice, you just have to take away the energy so that the molecules will crowd closer together and form intermolecular bonds. So I tried it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth blinked, at a loss for words. Unlike most people, she didn’t think Percy was stupid; actually, he was extremely smart. That said, though, he had never been book-smart, so it was a surprise to hear those words coming out of his mouth. She knew better than anyone that he had really been trying in school, but she hadn’t ever really thought they’d get to the point where he was just casually spouting scientific facts like it was a normal occurrence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um,” she said eloquently. “Wow. Okay. That’s...pretty cool, actually.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, right?” Percy exclaimed. “Oh, there’s something else I’ve been </span>
  <em>
    <span>dying </span>
  </em>
  <span>to try! And this is the perfect weather to try it. You might want to step back a little,” he added to her with a lopsided smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took several steps back, watching in fascination as he closed his eyes, breathing in deeply, as if psyching himself up. He let out his breath in one sharp motion, then snapped his eyes open, back ramrod straight with his arms thrust straight out to either side. For a moment nothing happened, and Annabeth began to wonder whether or not whatever he’d been trying had worked, but then she registered it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sound of the rain had stopped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked up slowly, and her jaw dropped. It was as if time itself had stopped; above them hung thousands upon thousands of water droplets, suspended in the air like crystals on a chandelier. Light from the streetlights reflected off them, making them sparkle like stars in the sky. Tentatively, as if afraid that moving too fast would shatter the spell, she reached out to touch one; it fell apart onto her hand. She looked over at Percy in awe; standing in the midst of the sea of raindrops, he truly looked like a god.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gestured sharply, and a gasp escaped her lips as the water droplets were suddenly transformed into ice shards. With another movement, he sent them all sailing into the still-standing ice prison, which shattered into a thousand pieces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Glittering ice was strewn all across the ground. Slowly, the rain began to fall again, but Annabeth remained unmoving, staring at her boyfriend in awe. The ice melted, water flowing away towards the drains. They stared at each other through the rain, like a scene straight out of a movie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth spoke first.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Percy,” she breathed, “That was - amazing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The smile he gave her was brilliant and bright, sparkling with the joy of having discovered a new skill. “Thank you,” he said bashfully. “I’m glad you were here to see it. It makes it more special, you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She brought his lips down to hers in lieu of a reply. Now she wanted to get home for reasons </span>
  <em>
    <span>entirely </span>
  </em>
  <span>different from what she’d started with.</span>
</p>
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